Page 54 of Perdition
Stunned, Em could only blink at him.
Patriot knew? How much did he know?
“We’ve all been on him about his time with Sarah, but he’s had his head so far up his own ass, he’s been oblivious to it.”
Oblivious to the point of sticking his dick in her? Like—whoa, how did that get in there?
“I can see from the look on your face that you’re thinking something dangerous—and I get it. We did, too, at first. But that man is so fucking in love with you, he’d never go there, not in a million years. Yeah, he fucked up, but…well…I honestly don’t think he’s too far gone for repentance.”
Swallowing the tears of anger and hurt, and the ball of sick and shame in her throat, she choked, “I wish I could believe that.”
Patriot’s eyes softened, his face etched with concern and understanding.
“I know. And so does he.” He turned to walk toward his bike parked along the street, but spoke to her over his shoulder, “Take tonight, Em, because those women will let you cry and rage all over them. But, please…give him a chance, yeah?”
As Patriot walked away, and the sounds of laughter blurred behind her, images of that red maple, splintered and savaged, filled her mind.
Memories of the angrily scrawled note and the carelessly tossed property kutte overwhelmed her thoughts.
She’d already cut away pieces of herself, of him, and them that couldn’t be repaired.
Em couldn’t help but think…it was already too late.
SIXTEEN
“Seriously,Nads, you’ve got to tell us if Locust is as much of a freak as he looks,” Stephie proclaimed, her eyes bright and wild from the sheer number of Twizzlers she’d consumed over the last forty-five minutes. Stephie and sugar didn’t mix. “He looks like he’d tie you to the bed and fuck you into the mattress. We need to know deets!”
Em choked on her spit, coughing violently. Those were things she didnotneed to know about men she considered brothers.
“Oh, no we don’t,” Vicki interjected, waving her can of mango flavored Bubly in the air. “I see that man more than I’d like to, so putting those thoughts into my head would make it near impossible to look him in the eye.”
“Why are you looking at hiseyeswhen there’s all that sexy biker man meat to look at? Have youseenthe size of his hands?” Stephie exclaimed. “Besides, I’m just curious…and a lot horny.” She pouted, making Em shake her head, exasperated. “Ever since Horde found out about the baby, he’s beenhoardingthat dick, talkin’ about how he’s scared to hurt the baby, and that there’s too much of a risk until after the first trimester.” Her pout turned feral. “He should be more worried about me, keeping that big, talented dick from me—I’ll fucking get himin his sleep, and he’ll wake up too late to stop me!” Stephie punctuated her statement with a round of maniacal laughter that would put Yzma to shame.
Oh, Lord, it was time to take that bag of candy from her.
Thinking the same thing, Nadia reached over Cilla to grab Stephie’s bag of candy, which made Cilla giggle and Stephie growl.
Unfazed, Nadia deadpanned, “None of your business, you hussy—and don’t call me ‘Nads’; it makes me think of testicles.”
Em snorted, chuckling, thankful for the cranberry infused wine she was drinking. Her third glass went down smooth…as did number four.
Currently, her glass was empty, but she meant to remedy that…just as soon as the room stopped spinning.
“Okay, enough about Locust and Horde, I want to know what’s going on with you, Emily,” Nadia said, her voice soft but no-nonsense, like an older sister who’d had it up to her eyeballs, waiting for her obviously conflicted sibling to spill her guts. “The men talk, Em, so we know there’s something shitty happening.”
“Yeah,” Cilla agreed. “Patriot is VP, so he’s been front and center to the drama of Frost and that bitch, Sarah—and not just that. The patch over has been brutal for Frost…and that hasn’t helped things.”
Apparently, Cilla knew more about what was going on than Em did…and she only had herself to blame. She could have been more involved in the club, spent more time there, but her business was important to her, too.
Would it have really been so bad to put off business emails for one evening just to spend time with her man at the clubhouse?
No. She could admit that. But what would that had gotten her, really? Frost would have spent a few minutes with her, drank a beer with the brothers, then headed into his office togrind away on that patch over that she, obviously, had no real freaking clue about. She knew it was overwhelming him, that he wasn’t sharing the burden with his brothers, and that was leading him to make shitty decisions. But that was it. She didn’t know what exactly was weighing on him, why it was bothering him so much, or what he planned to do about it so she could help him finish.
You haven’t asked, either.
Damn, but that inner voice made sense. Em just glared at it. She was too up in her feels, right then, to care about what she could have done differently; she could only focus on what Frost had done wrong.
And how she was supposed to deal with it.
